Gaekwar dynasty, Gaekwar also spelled Gaikwar or Gaekwad, Indian ruling family whose capital was at Baroda (now Vadodara) in Gujarat state. The state became a leading power in the 18th-century Maratha confederacy. The founder of the dynasty was Damaji I who had risen to power by 1740. The last Gaekwar, Sayaji Rao III, died in 1939.

alliance formed in the 18th century after Mughal pressure forced the collapse of Shivaji ’s kingdom of Maharashtra in western India. After the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb ’s death (1707), Maratha power revived under Shivaji’s grandson Shahu. He confided power to the Brahman Bhat...